“As a new senior leadership team we really valued the time that we spent with you. You created a safe space where people felt listened to. This enabled us to share what was important to us as a team and to move forward with a shared leadership agenda. Although we were very busy we always felt that the time spent working with you was really well spent – you seemed to get what it was that we needed at that time. I found working with you in designing the sessions very easy and our discussions helped bring me perspective and clarity.”
— Louise Bainbridge, Nottingham CityCare NHS Partnership
“Meg is a very human human. I’ve worked with her several times over the course of 15 years or more. Most recently, in my role at Aldwyck Housing Group, we made more progress in 18 months with Meg’s help than I’ve made in any organisation ever. ”
— Ian McDermott, CEO Catalyst Housing Group
“Meg is an inspirational Thinking Environment coach, she helped me to deepen and improve the quality of my thinking. She pays great attention, asks incisive questions and provides the right environment and frameworks to facilitate change.”
— Sarah Ackland, Head of Architas UK Funds
“Recently, Meg and I worked on an away day for the top 80 to 100 leaders in a Local Authority. Over the course of 18 months we’ve worked on 4 or 5 projects with different clients.
Meg’s approach to OD is unusual – she finds a way to gently and collaboratively move outside our comfort zone as a group. She’s both reflective and tenacious and I’ve witnessed this in the way she will explore a number of approaches to find what will work for the organisation, its people and their specific situation. ”
— Sarah Johnston, Executive Director, Red Quadrant (now also working independently at SJ Coaching and Consulting Limited)
“Whenever Meg speaks or runs guest workshops at our annual coaching conference her sessions are always full and delegates give amazing feedback.
CAKE provides people development and Meg works with us to provide specialist expertise. Over a number of years she has contributed to an award-winning leadership programme for women that we deliver globally for a technology company. Meg brings a real element of authority on organisational development: she combines a deep theoretical understanding alongside her own experience in organisation-based practitioner roles. People also really appreciate Meg’s warmth and our whole team often talk about how much they enjoy working with her.
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— Margaret Burnside, Director CAKE People Development
“Meg’s work creates a psychologically safe environment which makes it possible for people to be more open with each other, which has a big impact on the work they can do together.
She has a really good skill-set for sensitive conversations and establishes trust very quickly. She can facilitate productive discussions and Meg is able to get under the skin of what’s going on in a way that means an individual or a group can look at it objectively and therefore more deeply. ”
— Amanda Gonsalves, Executive Director of HR Aldwyck Housing Group
“I’d describe a Thinking Partnership as being like the sea: it doesn’t end anywhere. It just allows space, allows room for whatever shapes are going to happen.
It’s a useful approach for tricky conversations, where you can tell someone is having a difficult time and they are struggling to talk about it. It’s not hierarchical, unlike a counselling or mentoring approach, and it supports the other person with space for their own understanding to unfold. ”
— Louis Gilbert, General Manager, Drake Music.
“I worked with Meg over a period of months in a large public sector organisation. Meg brought a great amount of experience to the role, and changed the way that we thought about organisational development as a function. She was attentive, interested, passionate and knowledgeable - with great knowledge in the area of using/facilitating simple conversation to assist with changing hearts and minds. Meg was a huge asset to the project that we were working on and we wouldn’t have realised the results that we did without her, highly recommended. ”
— Gareth Stubbs, Organisational Development Co-ordinator, Lancs Constabulary
“In Meg Peppin’s Thinking Partnership training programme the onus is on learning by doing, by practising what you learn as the programme unfolds.
Through the programme, you become a better listener/thinker and can help others become better thinkers and listeners. I now find that rather than jumping into conversations with my thoughts I have become more comfortable letting others share their thinking more fully without feeling the need to fill pauses in the conversation.
Thanks Meg for a great programme. I learned loads, met some great people and really appreciated how you guided us through the three days. ”
— Martin Couzins, Director, Insights Media
“Meg just gets everyone really, really quickly. Having worked together once before, I moved to a new role and I immediately thought of Meg to work with my new Senior Management Team.
When I worked with Meg in my previous role, the outcome was a more cohesive leadership team. We had an executive team of bright, ambitious people who were all very good at what they were doing, but focusing too much on their own agenda and not looking at the company holistically.
Through our work with Meg, we went from an atmosphere where employees were uncomfortable going into meetings where there may be disagreement, to being able to talk freely and get on to do the work that needed doing. ”
— Laura Smith, Head of HR BFBS
“Meg effortlessly provides a genuine interest in the person she is interacting with which drew far more out of me than I would ordinarily offer up during an initial meeting. Meg quickly became my confidante during our sessions. I have been able to share deep thoughts and emotions with Meg without feeling that Meg was judging me.”
— Coachee
“I first heard of the Thinking Environment through a friend/Coaching course I attended. A lot of good support makes sense on paper, but its only in application that the strength and simplicity of the 10 principles can be really seen.
Meg brings the Thinking Environment theory to life through consistent practice & modelling. Learning is on multiple levels. All the time.
And yet, it doesn’t seem like hard work!
Must be the masterful Ease she brings! ”
— Grainne Delaney, In Resonance Coaching
“Since taking Meg’s Thinking Partnership course in 2020 I’ve noticed a difference in my coaching style and it’s given me an opportunity to deepen my coaching relationships.
Through the course I experienced how it feels to really be there with somebody else and not need to provide the answers for them.
I attended the course online and, as facilitator, Meg helped to create a space to learn that was so safe and lovely: it was a very special experience. ”
— Ann-Marie Barlow, Energise Development
“I signed up for the Thinking Partnership Programme during the first lockdown and the experience was one of the most enriching learning experiences I have had in years. I connected deeply with some very special people and I learned much about myself. Meg facilitated the sessions with ease, grace and compassion. She is so skilled and so utterly authentic.
The simplicity of this intervention is what gives it the power. Since the programme, giving genuine attention to people is at the forefront of my mind in my interactions. The group I engaged with in the four week programme are such a special group of people and we now meet weekly (virtually) to think together and cultivating this way of being (as a Thinking Partner) is an ongoing journey that I am thoroughly enjoying.
I would recommend the programme without hesitation and the virtual version of the programme exceeded my expectations resulting in a hugely rich learning experience that nourished me during COVID-19.”
— Margie Jarvis, Director, Just Being You
“I recently took a Thinking Partnership course with the fabulous Meg Peppin and I genuinely think this is the way to listen, collaborate and change the world for the better.
I was part of the first online cohort for this course and Meg created a supportive and experiential learning environment via video conference. Meg worked with us to create a space to practice this thing that’s simple and powerful, yet hard to do, without us ever being in the same room. ”
— Louise Winters, Data Intensive Science Centre Manager, University of Sussex
“Personal style allows her to engage all levels with Board Members and front line staff alike, understanding the issues from their perspectives, and accordingly communicate ideas and strategy in a way that is meaningful to them.”
— CEO
“She motivates us to achieve and provides the necessary clarity when we find ourselves in complex situations by listening, facilitating and being solution-focussed.
Meg never shies away from addressing challenging issues, and does so in a constructive way, enabling the organisation and our team to move forward.”
